Now Let's Talk of Graves (16 page)

“In time for what?”

“To make lunch at Galatoire's.” Then Sam was laughing, remembering herself and Kitty hightailing it, heads down in the taxi.

“Some reporter you are.”

“I was on vacation. I didn't have time.” Then she caught the look on his face, the sly smile. Uh-oh, he knew something she didn't.

“Well, Ms. Bigtime,” he was saying, “for your information, the blond guy didn't get shot.”

“
No?
Did you see it?” she wasn't giving in
that
easily.

“Not exactly. Chéri was talking about it at the Pelican.”

“And—?”

He told her: What sounded like a car backfiring
was
a
car backfiring. The little guy fainted. Then Chéri and Joey waited for the ambulance.

Then he said, “That was how they got to the killing part, I mean, the joking-about-killing part in the Pelican—talking about that incident and the ambulance. Chéri said something about the ambulance driver being a black woman.”

“Was it G.T.? G. T. Johnson?”

“Yeah, that's right. A real piece of work, G.T. You know her?”

“Her great-grandmother Ida works for the Lees. Or used to work for them; she's as old as Ma Elise, has been with her forever. Mostly the two old ladies just hang out together. Kitty says they shoot pool. Anyway,
what
did they say about G.T.?”

“Jimbo was complaining about her. It seems as though G.T. is his next-door neighbor over on General Taylor.”

“That's her name.”

“What?”

“That's G.T.'s name, General Taylor.”

“She's named General Taylor and she lives on General Taylor?” Harry asked.

“Listen. It's your city. I'm just visiting.”

“
Anyway.
Jimbo was pissed off because G.T. had stepped in when he was beating up on his wife.”

“I like him a whole lot already. He sounds like my kind of guy.”

“You know—” Harry stopped and stared off.

“What?”

“When I was waiting for Chéri at the airport, when you were waiting for Kitty, there was this blonde wearing a necklace that spelled out her name. You know what I mean?”

“Tacky gold necklace with the big letters.”

“Right, T-e-r-i. I can see it clear as day, which is the name of Jimbo's wife, that's what he said, and this blonde I saw had a baby and a shiner.”

“And?”

“Well, that could have been Jimbo's wife running away. You know, I think I put it together when I heard him talk about her in the bar, and then it just fell out of my mind.”

“Harry, we've lost our way here. We're way off track. What difference would it make if it was his wife?”

“Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but wouldn't that be weird?” He couldn't seem to let the thought go.

“It would be a coincidence. I'm very big on coincidences. That's why I'm such a good reporter. Things just fall in my lap. But let's go back here. You said this guy Jimbo was talking about killing G.T. Is that where we were?”

Harry explained how Jimbo had said he was thinking of killing G.T. because she kept butting in when he was beating up his wife and somebody, Maynard, he thought, no, maybe it was Jimbo again, said to throw Chéri in, too, kill Chéri too. Make it a two-for-one deal.

“Why Chéri?”

“Because she'd pissed Maynard off, hocking him about his hating Church and being captain of Comus but not having the guts to stop Zoe from being queen. Then Calvin threw Church into it too. Said they'd kill all three.”

“
Who
would?”

“Well.” Harry scratched his head. “Nobody, exactly. It was all bull anyway. At least it
sounded
theoretical. You know, drunks talking, being stupid. Macho. But I can tell you this. The conversation made Maynard awfully nervous. He was
squirming,
saying they ought not to be talking like that. But the other guys, Calvin and Jimbo, they were just pulling his chain. Fat Uptown lawyer, you know, he was fair game.”

Sam was thinking. She pointed a finger. “You know, G.T. was at the accident when Church was killed.”

“She
was
?
You mean she was driving the ambulance that picked Church up? I don't know, maybe the name of the service was in the police report, I didn't notice.”

“Wait.” She closed her eyes, thinking. “Yes, she
did
eventually drive Church to the hospital. His body. He was DOA.”

“I know that.”

“Okay, but she was already there. She happened on the scene just as it went down.”

“Like a—coincidence.”

“Yes, but I—well, I never got a chance to talk with her about it. Except we both saw the driver's face—the mask, rather. We both gave statements, but I had to get back to Atlanta. They certainly didn't need a houseguest in the middle of the funeral and all—anyway, the point is she was there.
In fact,
the Buick hit the ambulance too. At least once. Maybe twice. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Is it possible?”

“You mean that
this
was supposed to be a two-for-one, kill Church, then G.T.?”

“Well?”

“How'd he get them both to the same place at the same time, by ESP?”

“Arranged it.”

“He made a date with them? He said, Church, no matter how drunk you are, you be on the corner of St. Charles and First Street at quarter of three, Ash Wednesday morning, and G.T., you be there too. That's your theory?”

“Or maybe Church just got in the way.
G.T.
was really the target, but the driver missed. You know, Harry, you're never gonna amount to spit if you don't learn to consider all the possibilities.”

“Amount to spit?
Spit
?”

“Shhhh. People are staring.”

Actually, he was even cuter when he was mad, sort of like a kid with a busted train. And he'd be even madder if she told him that.

“So exactly where does this line of thinking lead us, Miz Adams?”

She spread her hands as if she'd delivered him a fait accompli.

“To Maynard, that's what you're saying?” Harry asked.

“To Maynard or Jimbo. Or Calvin.”

“Not Calvin. No way.”

“Why?”

“He's not the type.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“Just trust me. I'll humor you with Maynard or Jimbo, but forget Calvin.”

“Humor me?”

“Humor you. As a guest, on foreign territory. I'll give you the benefit of my
considerable
doubt. Now, do you want to go grab a bite at Galatoire's?”

“It's only eleven-thirty. I just had breakfast.”

“Forget I ever mentioned it. Now, would it interest you to spend a few minutes speculating about motivation here?”

“We know Maynard's motivation. He had a hate-on for Church for about a zillion years.”

“I'll grant you that. Now, what about Jimbo?”

“I don't know about Jimbo. Maybe Maynard paid him. That's why we've got to talk with him.”

“Okay. Now, as I, in my poor, benighted way understand it—”

“You're leaning on that awfully hard.”

“—we need to talk with a bunch of people. Madeline, Church's ex-wife, who might have suddenly decided after all these years to kill him. Cole Leander, whom Church blinded, who's pressing the malpractice suit. Maynard Dupree, of course. Jimbo King—”

“Yes, even if it was drunk talk. And I want to talk with G.T.”

“You don't suspect her?!”

“No, of course not. But she
was
at the crime scene, her ambulance did get hit, and Jimbo had been talking about killing her. But I'm leaning real heavily toward Maynard right now, because their thing goes back so far.”

“I can see that. You want to talk with anybody around him? His wife?”

“Maybe. Who's she?”

“Marietta Duchamps Dupree. Former Comus queen.”

“Of course she is. Why didn't I think of that? Yeah, probably. How do you feel about it being Maynard?”

“Seems most likely. Him or Cole Leander. But we've got ourselves quite a list here of people to interview. Anybody else leaps to mind we ought to check out? Chéri? Joey the Horse? The little blond dude trying to cross the street at the airport? Joey's driver? Teri?”

“Don't be ridiculous. Just because I wanted to
explore
all the possibilities. God, and I thought I was going home tonight.”

Harry grinned. “Looks like you're gonna be here for a while.”

Sam ignored that. “Though, you know, if Jimbo makes any sense in this—like maybe Maynard hired Jimbo to do his dirty work—Teri just might know something—”

“Right. And what about Zoe?”

“Oh, I almost forgot. There's her supplier, if we take that angle.” She checked her notebook. “You know somebody named Billy Jack?” Then to herself: “I wonder if that's
really
his last name.”

“Billy Jack? Doesn't mean a thing. Any idea where we can find him?”

“Zoe said he's a waiter at Patrissy's on Royal.”

“Good. Anything else related to the family? What about Ma Elise or Kitty?”

“Nooo…. Though I don't think either of them's telling me anywhere near the truth about what happened between Church and Madeline. I
think
Kitty would have leveled with me if there were anyone trying to get at
her
for some reason through Church. And let's don't forget what I told you Kitty said about Church's seeing someone, someone he kept secret. I want to know who that is. And Ma Elise? I can't imagine. Zoe? We've got Billy Jack. Oh! They were telling me this story about Church getting mugged.”

“When?”

“Back in the fall sometime. Zoe said the beginning of the deb season.”

“That's six months ago.” Harry sounded skeptical.

“That long ago. You're right, it's probably nothing. Zoe said Church got a burst of testosterone, outran the mugger, who came up empty. Didn't even get his wallet.”

“Too bad Church couldn't outrun a Buick.”

Sam gave him a look.

“I know. Bad joke.” He pushed back from the table. “Okay, so where do you want to start? There's a
lot
of talking to be done here. You want to split it up?” Of course, he wanted to hang out with her. He was hoping she'd say no.

“Sure. I don't want to start with Maynard, though.”

“Fine, I'll take him.”

“No way. Maynard's mine.”

“Did I miss something? Didn't you just say—”

“I meant, I want to work up to him. I want to know more before I go barging in on the most likely suspect.”

“
Excuse
me. How far back would you like me to start?”

“Why don't you see if you can nose out who Church was seeing?”

“You're a pain in the butt, you know that?”

She gave him a level look.

“Okay, okay. Ladies' choice.”

She made a face like she had gas, then, “Or you could start with Billy Jack.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What about Jimbo?”

Noooo. She wanted Jimbo too. Oh, God, this was stupid, her trying to work with Harry. She'd never been good at sharing with anyone. It wasn't her fault; she was an only child.

She tried a counteroffer. “If you do Billy Jack, you could have lunch at Patrissy's. You could do it right now. Weren't you hungry?”

He considered that for a minute. “Actually”—he threw money on the table, stood, taking her elbow—“you follow me. I'll point you at Cole Leander's on Julia. And we could stop by Mother's. It's on the way.”

They were down the steps in a flash.

Hell, why not? she thought. “Killer oyster po'boy at Mother's, as I remember.”

On the sidewalk now he smiled the slow smile. Food was food. Foreplay was foreplay. It didn't
have
to be Galatoire's before he took her by the hand and they played out the rest of his daydream.

Twelve

SAM WAS DRUNK on food, on a Ferdie Debris from Mother's. Harry'd convinced her she had to try the combo: juice and gravy and bits of browned roast from the bottom of the pan over ham and roast beef on a French loaf with creole mustard, lettuce, and tomato.